The Ministry of Health maintained a schizophrenic position from 1985 on. Although the Thomson report identified and recommended continued public funding for an existing method of diagnosis, some MoH officials would defend criminal negligence on the basis that the report had said there was not a method of diagnosis. Of course, over the years, MoH officials revealed many internal inconsistencies, sometimes rescuing individuals, sometimes condemning patient populations to their deaths.
Gibbons letter is in reply to a request, a resolution passed after being moved from the 1987 HEF Conference floor, that the Ontario Ministry of Health implement any 6 of Thomson's thirty recommendations.